2007 Grant - Benefield

Distance Family Care Coordination of Home Dwelling Persons With Dementia

2007 Investigator-Initiated Research Grant

Informal caregivers, who are often family members, care for 22 million older Americans, 5 million of whom are people with dementia. More than one-third of those caregivers live more than an hour's drive away from the person for whom they care, which creates additional stress for the caregivers. Yet there is little research into what can be done to make this process easier for people caring for adults with dementia who are living at home, especially among racially diverse groups.

Lazelle E. Benefield, Ph.D., and colleagues will interview Caucasian, African American, Hispanic and Native American long-distance caregivers to learn what their concerns are, what services are most difficult to coordinate from far away and what factors are most beneficial to them in providing care. By learning how to help long-distance caregivers, the study may help enable people with dementia to live independently in their own homes as long as possible.